When being “thick” was in (in White America)

Found here.

The following is from a post I did back in ’07 (unfortunately, I lost the images that were originally included in that post).

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I liketh big butts, and I shalt not lie

“The bustle was a typically Victorian fashion. Although most bustle gowns covered nearly all of a woman, the shape created by the combination of a bustle and corset (accentuating the rump, waist, and bosom) resulted in a highly erotic and idealized conception of femininity, possibly inspired by the exaggerated images of the South African woman known as “Hottentot Venus” exhibited throughout Europe in the first part of the 19th century.” (source)

Hmmmm, Hottentot Venus…

“Saarjite Baartman/ The Hottentot Venus

Saarjite Baartman (images below), a young Khosian woman from Southern Africa whose body was the main attraction at public spectacles in both England and France for over five years, is perhaps the most infamous case of a Khosian body on display. Baartman, who became known as the Hottentot Venus, was brought to Europe from Cape Town in 1810 by an English ship’s surgeon who wished to publicly exhibit the woman’s steatopygia, her enlarged buttocks. Her physique, particularly her steatopygic appendage, became the object of popular fascination when Baartman was exhibited naked in a cage at Piccadilly, England. When abolitionists mobilized to put an end Baartman’s public display, she informed them that she participated in the spectacles of her own volition. She even shared in profits with her exhibitor.
The spectacle of Baartman’s body, however, continued even after her death at the age of twenty-six. Pseudo-scientists interested in investigating “primitive sexuality” dissected and cast her genitals in wax. Baartman, as far as we know, was the first person of Khosian-descent to be dismembered and displayed in this manner. Anatomist Georges Curvier presented Baartman’s dissected labia before the Academie Royale de Medecine, in order to allow them “to see the nature of the labia” (Gilman 235). Curvier and his contemporaries concluded that Baartman’s oversized primitive genitalia was physical proof of the African women’s “primitive sexual appetite.” Baartman’s genitalia continued to be exhibited at La Musée de l’Homme, the institution to which Curvier belonged, long after her death..” (source)

“Several prints dating from the early nineteenth century illustrate the sensation generated by the spectacle of “The Hottentot Venus.” A French print entitled “La Belle Hottentot,” for example, depicts the Khosian woman standing with her buttocks exposed on a box-like pedestal. Several figures bend straining for a better look, while a male figure at the far right of the image even holds his seeing-eye glass up to better behold the woman’s body. The European observers remark on the woman’s body: “Oh! God Damn what roast beef!” and “Ah! how comical is nature.” (source)

Back in the day when we did not have computers. But we were never short on talent.

From the movie “No Leave, No Love”

Frank “Sugar Chile Robinson”

Today, this man is known as “Little Richard”.

Lawd knows, I’m not suggesting that they should not be compensated for this mess, but how do you come up with the figure?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I have an entire page dedicated to the history of eugenics in this country.

“If some individuals contribute to general social deterioration by overproducing children, and if the need is compelling, they can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility—just as they can be required to exercise responsibility in their resource-consumption patterns—providing they are not denied equal protection.” (Excerpt from the book “Ecoscience”. It was co-written by John Holdren, President Obama’s Science Czar. )

I’m doing a little rewind here by going back to some posts I did in the past.

Should the state be in the liquor business? (August 17, 2007)

“The fundamental core question is should the government be in a business that’s providing a consumer good?” said Stalder. “This is not normal business.”
So, how unusual is this business?
The LCB spends millions of dollars a year promoting the sale of alcohol, and it also spends millions trying to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors.
While there’s plenty of talk in Harrisburg about privatizing the turnpike, there is little effort to privatize the state stores. That’s because of an unusual alliance between Democrats, who want to keep union jobs in the stores and Republicans, who want to keep tight control on liquor sales.(source)

And as I mentioned in that post, you will find many of those stores in Black communities. So I ask you, which party has Black interests at heart?

“From front of the bus to the back of the bus: Why they will never get it when it comes to television” (April 5th, 2011)

“Followers of this site know that I have been preaching against the sheer stupidity behind the begging for more Black channels on the cable spectrum. Why? Because A: They all pretty much play the same thing. B: It took them YEARS to get enough money to produce serious original programing (BET started out with original programing but went broke quick because of the lack of dollars from advertising–Read Bob Johnson’s book). C: If you are playing pretty much the same things that can be found on the non-exclusive Black channels, what’s the point?”

In this post, I went on to ask why is there no serious effort to create Black channels on mediums like Roku, BoxeeTV, etc. These mediums have a growing audience at less than half the cost of most cable television packages (Roku is a one time cost of $60 or $99 depending on the unit. There are no monthly fees unless you choose to purchase a premium channel. Premium channels are on average about $5/month, both most channels are free). Setting up a channel in this medium would not require the red tape you will find with the traditional television route because the whole thing is web-based.

Here we have a medium that we can fully control, and would address the issue of rising costs of cable television subscriptions. Instead, we settle for begging Mr. Charlie for more room on the overpriced, over-crowded spectrum.

I predicted that Bounce TV was going to be another channel filled with reruns and that has been proven true. Meanwhile, online media is leaving them in the dust. SMH!

Chimney Sweeps C1870 anaglyph 3D

ANAGLYPH, made from original card stereoview in my collection: “No. 29 Chimney Sweeps” Photogrphed by J.N. Wilson No. 143 Broughton street, Savannah, Ga.

(Auction Central News)The Philadelphia Museum of Art has acquired the painting Yarrow Mamout, 1819, an exceptionally rare portrait of an African-American by Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), one of the most renowned American artists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Depicting an aged man who had been born in Guinea in western Africa, taken into slavery in the American colonies and later manumitted, or freed by his owner, it is one of the very earliest known works to depict a freed slave in the United States and the earliest known painting of a Muslim in America.

Read more:

What’s this ’bout Black boys wearing their pants hanging from their waist? Anytime we saw something like that in our day, it either meant you just finished using the toilet, or massa just finished beating you. Allow us to show you how we used to roll.

Did you know that Sunday school started off as an actual school that was held on Sundays to teach poor children how to read and write?

Robert Raikes (1735-1811) is remembered as a pioneer of Sunday Schools. He was not however the first person to set up a Sunday School, but rather his work pioneered Sunday Schools as a national institution in England.

He became aware of the needs of those children whose parents could not provide schooling for them. In 1780 he was dismayed at the sight of children running wild around the city on Sundays and began to consider the possibility of a School. As early as 1769 Hannah Ball, who had been converted under the preaching of John Wesley, had set up a Sunday School in High Wycombe. There was also a Sunday School run by Thomas King a Dissenter in nearby Dursley. Raikes was a churchman and wanted his School to be closely linked to the parish church. He therefore consulted Thomas Stock a local curate who had been involved in a school in Berkshire. Stock seems to have drawn up the plans and Raikes provided the money. In July 1780 a Sunday School was established in the parish of St Mary de Crypt in Gloucester. There were to be two sessions every Sunday and four women were paid to teach children to read and to learn the Prayer Book Catechism. Raikes became actively involved. He visited the children in their homes, examined their progress in reading and gave prizes for good progress. (read more…)

You know, I really think it would be an excellent idea if churches returned to this model and leave the spiritual training to the parents.

Yup! I’m taking it waaaaay back again. In a time when government flat out refused to help Black folks, we got together along with a few friendly Whites who believed in us and built our own economy.

You have to click on each picture to read the text. Just mouse over the picture once you get there to see the larger version.

Just as a side note, this hospital served 3,500 in-patients and 40,000 out-patients—in 1912!!

This library was bought by Black folks. Look at how many people showed up for the opening.

This brutha never took “No” as the final answer.

This brutha did very well in real estate.

Black hospital staff without brooms and a bucket.

Here is your history in check read for today.

Cuba Has Solution To Race Problem
The Afro-American Newspaper – October 1, 1960

Today

Race in Cuba: Yes, Virginia, There Is Racism on the Island

TheRoot.com, July 26, 2010

Also read TheRealCuba.com (this site has been covering it for years and has taken a lot of heat for it)

She was one of the first sistas on CNN Headline News.

This was her then…

This was her in 2010

Same script, older face.
Still, it was good seeing her again.

As I have told many people before, the information is out there–you just have to be willing to look for it.

Despite all the debate over what history is being left out of our children’s textbooks, the Internet is filled with information that can fill many of the voids in the retelling of our history. This is by no means a complete list. But I am going to list as many as I can find for the next few minutes for this posting. As I find more listings, I will add those either to this post, or a future post.

Enjoy!

U.S. History: African-American Studies (While most of these are free, there are some on this list that do have a cost)

African American Achievers (For grades 3-5)

The Political Worlds of Slavery and Freedom (Nathan I Huggins Lectures)

Here’s over 60 children and adult books on Black history, cooking, art and other topics from various download sites.

Mr. President, I rise today to talk about America’s debt problem.

I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.

Then Senator Obama’s statement on the Senate floor, March 16, 2006

Sen. Edward W. Brooke

Atlanta (UPI) – Sen Edward W. Brooke, R-Mass., told the National Urban League today that despite reports of economic recovery, black Americans still face a depression. He called for a massive federal program to create jobs for all.
“Last week the nation’s leading economists stated that the country’s recession may be ending, but there is little question that there is still a depression in black America,” said Brooke, the only black member of the Senate in a speech to the League’s annual convention. Transportation Secretary William T. Colman was to address the meeting later today. Brooke said the unemployment level among blacks is “a devastating 28.5 per cent” for all age groups.

Rome News-Tribune – July 28, 1975

As of early this month, the Dept. of Labor had Black unemployment at 16%. But you have to factor in those who have stopped looking which is usually another 5%+.

We are not that far off from 1975 levels.

While the NAACP and The Urban League are begging Obama to save social programs (and mind you, social programs are NOT going to go away–count on it), our very own history has shown time and time again that when left alone, Black folks can make it.

This week I have focused on various examples throughout our history where with the absence of welfare, social security, a massive public school complex and the full presence of Jim Crow, we prospered. While online cynics will keep the focus on the racist triumphs over Black progress in those days, I think we do ourselves an injustice when we overlook what we were able to accomplish with less than a fraction of what we have today.

From back in 1911–

I’m surprised this did not go straight to DVD VHS reel to reel.

Someone uploaded the entire movie on YouTube here.

This is just a preview of this book. But it tells the story of the determination we had to excel in education in a time when our nation cared very little for us. Something is very wrong when decades later we are spending billions of dollars in our educational system with many of our kids graduating at a dismal reading level.